Working from home ...

[Sonor]

I am sure that like many of you, my wife and I are working from home.  We are lucky in the fact that she is on the dining room table with all of her office stuff and I am in what we have always had as an office.  There is a good distance for separation and sound does not (for the most part) transfer to bother the other.  We both start and end our days at about the same time and have lunch together most days.  This is very different from when we were at our offices.  All of this coupled with the fact that we are saving in the neighborhood of $250 a month in fuel (plus wear and tear on the vehicles) makes the situation more than acceptable.  We have also been catching up on our things-to-do list around the house. By not commuting we have gained sleep time and time to work around the house.  So, on the weekends we either make a big trip to Lowes or Home Depot and or I go for a ride on the bike.  It helps to keep the cabin fever at bay. I do miss going to see live music, shows, or movies.  But for the time being it is okay.  We are still very unsure of what we will do when we take vacation as it seems as thought the figures are going in the wrong direction and things will be shutting down again.  So my question is, what do you do to keep Cabin fever away and what are your thoughts on vacation destinations?

[Skywagon]

I’m recently retired. My last 12 years of work allowed me to work at home, mostly travel when I felt the need, and with few exceptions required travel for board and leadership in person meetings. At first I kind of missed it, but as time went on I actually spent as much or more work time (no commute) while gaining the things you described. The days I had to go in became dreaded Give it some time and I suspect you will wonder why going to the office is beneficial

 

As far as vacations during the pandemic... We don’t do anything right now that would require public transportation e.g. train, plane, hotels, Uber, etc  We have done a few short day trips where we can stay isolated. There are many things to do in our state without crowding. I go fishing...she reads on the boat, I ride my motorcycle some, we've been doing home projects, and generally getting things done we have postponed. We have a beach house about 3 hours from here. We take the groceries we need to avoid restaurants. We can go to the beach when no one is there - during the week. There isn’t tons to do but it’s a small price to pay versus the alternatives in our opinion. Rent a beach house, mountain condo, or somewhere remote and take the family....not one of the popular crowed beaches. If you can find a place that is basically remote and not crowded you will find plenty to do.We believe we have another 8-9 months of this before risk subsides. 
 

Lost a friend to COVID this week. Three more hospitalized with estimates of 100 days in the hospital with a tube shoved down their throat and completely isolated.  Texas is out of control and Houston where I live is among the worst in the nation. Houston ICU vacillates between 99-104%.  
 

hang tight. It will pass. Enjoy your family.  Think simple not extravagant.  Stay safe.

 

Just to be clear after rereading my post...we havent been in a public building, grocery store, retail, restaurant, relatives, etc since March 09.  The few things we do we stay completely away from anyone else...not 6 ft but more like 200 yards.  Like Mitch....waiting on vaccine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sonor]

Dang, David I am sorry for your loss. I am not itching to get out, was just curious.  I too lost my father-in-law and my sister-in-law lost her sense of smell and taste.  The doctor's do not believe they will ever come back and she had a mild case.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

5 hours ago, Sonor said:

So my question is, what do you do to keep Cabin fever away and what are your thoughts on vacation destinations?

 

Try to get out of the house and find a place to go for a walk that doesn't have many people in it.  Might involve a drive.  For us, Ann Arbor has the headquarters of Domino's Pizza nearby.  The loop road around it is 1.8 miles, and we almost never encounter any other pedestrians, and very few vehicles.  There are a number of animals on display in various pastures (not including the petting zoo),  among then a herd of bison, a pitou donkey, a Ankole-Watusi, and a couple of Belties.  A pleasant walk.

 

Other than that, catching up on odd-jobs around the house.  Pushed back on the jungle, and trimmed a lot of dead branches from some pine trees.  In the past three weeks I've had 45 composting bags full of stuff taken away.  Fixed a couple of broken sprinklers.  Getting way ahead on my Mojo inventory.  Finally installed second (i.e. rear) dash cam in my car.  Washed/waxed both cars (they're staying clean longer than ever...).  This afternoon I get to deal with the mouse what took up residence in our attic.

 

Vacations?  Not any time soon:

 

• It's a three-hour flight to Colorado, and my Dad is 86 and not in great health.  If I bring COVID into his life he's got a fair chance of checking out.  I probably wouldn't even be allowed to see him: his assisted-living facility has been battling an outbreak since mid-April (11 residents dead from COVID), and one of their control measures right now is no outside visitors.  So even if I went, I probably couldn't get in to see him.  
• It's a 14-hour flight to Japan, and my MIL is likewise elderly and vulnerable to COVID.
• Drive/Ride somewhere?  Stay in a hotel, eat at restaurants, go shopping?  Not that desperate. The June Driftin' event was pushed to next year.  I don't see myself going to FART this year either. 

Waiting for a vaccine.

[Rougarou]

I've been an essential since 1986.

 

Anyway, the wife sent me this with the caption "This is us":

[dduelin]

I've been riding a lot, probably more than pre pandemic but short morning rides. Sometimes 3 or 4 days in a week.

 

My wife is a night owl and I'm a lark so for the 31 years we have been together I'm up before sunrise and she gets up around 10 or 11 AM. Nothing different there. I keep to a work schedule from 8ish to 5ish so from 0530 to 8 I might ride a 100 miles or so in nearby rural areas to avoid urban traffic then get home by 8, flip on the coffee maker and settle into the office routine.

[bacos]

I bought a "new" oilhead to work on.    Didn't expect it to end up being the project it turned out to be, but it's been a sort of blessing in disguise - it's gotten me back into wrenching my own bike for the first time in...decades? It's frustrating but rewarding in its way too.

 

The one upside of this work-from-home stuff has been that I can actually go for a ride in the evening after work now, which I haven't really been able to do since, well, forever. Rediscovering the roads around here, which, while not mountain quality, aren't too bad. The tourists escaping from the city are a problem on the weekends but during the week, it's fine.

 

(Previously would go 100miles into NYC for work every week. Not much riding to be done in NYC. After the first couple years, I gave up riding in to the city - the first 95 miles were great but the last 5 miles just sucked too bad.)

 

 

We had talked at one point about going on a road trip, but wife lost interest what with everything going on - taking the scenic route means trusting every hotel along the way, or it's a 13hr drone in the car to my sister's house. So, no plans, at least til we can finally get back to Europe.